MGN Invades Sonoma's Bar and Grille in Columbia

Over 200 people came to the MGN meet and greet where the entire football coaching staff gathered to mingle with fans. After an hour of socializing, Larry Grabenstein kicked things off by welcoming all in attendance. Coach Friedgen spoke next and stressed the importance of helping the football program by joining the MGN. Our strength, he said, is our numbers. We have over 150,000 living alumni in a one hour radius of the University. We need their help! Next up was Coach Don Brown, new defensive coordinator, who got the crowd excited about his pressing blitzing defense! We need more INTs and TOs for touchdowns and much effort is going into this goal. New Special Teams Coordinator, Charles Bankins, reminded us all that he coaches all the players on the team because all are involved in Special Teams! His desire is to give us great field position and score points on FGs, too! Coach Franklin in his 2nd year as Offensive Coordinator spoke about the comfort that our players feel in the second year of his system. We have some great offensive weapons in our receiving corps and backs. Chris Turner in his 4th year is the starting QB and has a confidence that should be a benefit this year. Jamarr Robinson is coming on strong as the number 2 guy.

Following the coaches talks and Q and A's, drawings were done for TERP stuff. We had about 30 winners. The fans that showed up had a great time and Sonoma's had some great deals on food and drink. We even had a Hokie fan, Ron Cote, JOIN the MGN!!! We picked up 10 new memberships and need many more.

If you missed this event we will be doing the same thing at Caddie's on Cordell in Bethesda, August 6th! Hope to see you there!!!

The Way They Were....

On August 10th, 2005, the TERPS had just reported for camp and it was Media Day. As I had done each year before, I took photos of the incoming freshman players so that I could learn their names. Thought you might like to see who is still with us. Some have graduated from that class, some have left, but I am looking forward to a great 2009 season.

2009 ACC Football Kickoff

Entering his 9th season, Coach Ralph Friedgen along with Chris Turner and Nolan Carroll represented the Terps at the annual ACC Football Kickoff. Players and coaches arrived Sunday at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, NC, the location of the home office for the ACC. Nolan and Chris handled media questions on Sunday and posed for lots of photos and autographs. Monday Chris and Coach Friedgen participated in the Skeeter Davis Golf Tournament (Ralph finished in 3rd place!!) while Nolan took some golf lessons by the pros at Grandover. The afternoon was filled with media interviews of all the coaches. The official ACC page for this event can be found at this link.

Meet Our Staff Wives: Carla Griffin

Name

Carla Griffin

Years married: 2-years

Names and ages of your children: Brandon Griffin 12, Joshua
Griffin, 1

Occupation: Regulatory
Submissions Publisher

Hobbies: Singing,
Theater, Tennis, and Scrabble

Favorite Movie: Usual
Suspects

Favorite Restaurant: Linwoods,
Owings Mills MD

How did you meet your husband? We were both teachers at Woodlawn
High School. Jemal passed me notes in the hall.

Describe a typical game day. While Jemal has left a day
or two earlier, the boys and I need to be up and ready by 7:30am Saturday
morning to travel and weigh in for Brandon’s Olney Rec football game.
BJ plays and then we’re off and rushing to College Park. Hopefully,
we are able to grab a bite to eat, because by then pre-game tailgating
is over. So for us, its football all day and we enjoy it. Whew, wait
until Joshua can play. Go Terps!

What’s the best part about being
a coach’s wife? Knowing
that my husband is living his dream.

What’s the worst part? The time Jemal spends away
from home.

Would you also include a favorite recipe?

White Bean Chicken
Chile

1 tablespoon vegetable
oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 (4 ounce) can diced
jalapeno peppers

1 (4 ounce) can chopped
green chile peppers

2 teaspoons ground
cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cayenne
pepper

2 (14.5 ounce) cans
chicken broth

3 cups chopped cooked
chicken breast

3 (15 ounce) cans white
beans

1 cup shredded Monterey
Jack cheese

Directions

Heat the oil in a large
saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until
tender. Mix in the garlic, jalapeno, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano
and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about
3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer
15 minutes, stirring occasionally

Remove the mixture
from heat. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted. Serve warm.

I serve over rice or
with tortilla chips. It’s a great tailgating dish.

Winter Workout/Spring Practice WINNERS!

The winter workout/spring practice intrasquad competition culminated in a dinner at the Friedgens' home on July 14th. Remember that the squad is broken down into teams, headed up by senior captains, who "draft" their fellow teammates. Captain Nolan Carroll's team won by doing what there were supposed to do and more, on and off the field. Congratulations! Members of Nolan's team included Lamar Young, Quinton McCree, Antoine Perez, Hakeem Sule, Andrew Gonnella, Herb Law, Michael Carter, Ben Pooler, and winner from last year, Trenton Hughes! The boys opened with chicken wings (a big hit), shrimp, and chips and salsa. Ralph grilled filet mignon, NY strip steaks, and chicken breasts; we enjoyed pulled pork and sides of haricot verts, southern style baked beans, and diner rolls. Dessert was blondies with ice cream and add what you wanted from chocolate chips, whipped cream, nuts, and chocolate syrup. Boy could these guys put some food away!! There was good dinner time conversation in a relaxed atmosphere. Ralph had a chance to tell some stories and that's always fun. Our sous chef was MGN Board member, Debbie Bebee, who also handled clean up - thanks, Deb!
After dinner there was a group that satisfied Gloria's thirst for ROCK BAND - Herb Law is on fire on the drums, and Trenton Hughes is quite a ham on the vocals - just like Gloria!

Check out the photos!!